Goings On in Autumn

With the cereal harvest well and truly behind us the village has celebrated in customary fashion.  Harvest supper, always a popular event, took place in the village hall. Villagers enjoy an excellent meal of boiled ham, vegetable bake and potatoes served with a very special plum sauce; vegetarians are catered for then it is head for the desert table where the choice is spectacular and limited only by the amount one can get on the plate.  A very enjoyable social evening.  This was followed on Sunday by the Harvest Festival Service in the beautifully decorated  Holy Cross Church.

  It has always been customary to take offerings of food to this Service for subsequent distribution to the less well-off and whilst fresh fruit and vegetables make an attractive display it is now deemed more practical to take items which can be stored and taken to the local food bank which the church supports.

Since writing about field mushrooms i have been on the lookout for blewits, a species of edible fungi much sought-after and, I believe, most frequently found in the Midlands.  Certainly they are to be found for sale on local market stalls.  However, they should be treated with caution when eaten for the first time as they can cause an allergic reaction in some people.

We are fortunate in having a bookshop in the neighbouring village whose proprietor puts on many events during the year. The Autumn/Winter programme has just appeared; it contains talks which will appeal to a wide range of interests. The talk on beekeeping is sure to be popular and that entertaining duo "Cook and Book" is back.

While there is no shortage of things to do and see in Nottinghamshire it is sometimes worth looking a little further, which is why Sunday found me visiting the village of Eyam, in Derbyshire.  Incidentally,the pronunciation of the name is open to debate, being pronounced "Eem", one syllable rather than Ee-am, two syllables - rather like our local town, is it "Suthell"or "South-well?  Be that as it may, it is best known as "the plague village" the story of which is well-documented and presented in the museum in the village with an excellent video, pictures and showcases. The museum has also mounted a new exhibition, running until 2018, entitled Eyam 1914-1918, and this too makes fascinating viewing.

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